I wish the photos did this manicure justice, but it was so fun to create that I still had to share!
Standard tools I gather when stamping: polish, acetone remover, cotton balls, precision tip cotton swab, orange stick, fine tipped paint brush, stamper and scraper + old credit card, and stamping plates. Whew!
I get excited just looking at this set-up. Stamping is so much fun!
I get excited just looking at this set-up. Stamping is so much fun!
Sally Hansen "Red Carpet" - ruby red with tiny red glitter, Sinful Colors "Snow Me White" - basic opaque white cream, LA Colors "Dark Denim" - excellent navy blue with micro turquoise glitter/shimmer, and Icing "Frost Yourself" - clear base with small and large hexagon hologram glitter. I also used Konad stamping polish in white.
*** Note ***
Many other polished work well for stamping if you don't have the special nail polish by Konad or other. Mostly, find one that is fairly thick and opaque in one coat. Also, most opaque metallic polishes work well too!
First, I did one coat of Snow Me White simply to add a more opaque base to my top coats. Otherwise, I would've had to do extra coats of the red and blue polishes.
Painted all but ring finger in Red Carpet.
Here it is after Dark Denim was painted on ring finger. Now I'm ready for the fun part!
I buy all my stamping plates from Amazon. This plate is Bundle Monster No. BM14 and I'll be using the stars for my festive mani!
I use the Konad double ended stamper which comes with this pink scraper. It works great, but I find that I like to use an old credit card for two reasons: 1. It's easier to use for beginners as it doesn't swipe away the paint as deeply as the Konad scraper does; 2. Plastic cards won't scratch your precious stamping plates over time.
Just add a little bit of your stamping polish to the design of choice.
Working quickly, scrape across the design to rid the plate of excess polish. Using your stamper, choose the large or small end depending on how large your design is.
Gently roll your stamper over the design to transfer the image. Then roll the stamper onto your nail to add your fun new design!
*** Note ***
Once you've transferred the image from the plate to the stamper you need to work fast! The design will dry out very quickly and won't transfer properly to your nail if you wait too long.
I had some trouble with this polish mostly because I flooded my cuticles with the stain-worthy red polish, but normally I would carefully swipe around my cuticles with a tiny brush filled with acetone polish remover.
Loving that large hexagon glitter on my ring finger!
I buy all my stamping plates from Amazon. This plate is Bundle Monster No. BM14 and I'll be using the stars for my festive mani!
I use the Konad double ended stamper which comes with this pink scraper. It works great, but I find that I like to use an old credit card for two reasons: 1. It's easier to use for beginners as it doesn't swipe away the paint as deeply as the Konad scraper does; 2. Plastic cards won't scratch your precious stamping plates over time.
Just add a little bit of your stamping polish to the design of choice.
Working quickly, scrape across the design to rid the plate of excess polish. Using your stamper, choose the large or small end depending on how large your design is.
Gently roll your stamper over the design to transfer the image. Then roll the stamper onto your nail to add your fun new design!
*** Note ***
Once you've transferred the image from the plate to the stamper you need to work fast! The design will dry out very quickly and won't transfer properly to your nail if you wait too long.
I had some trouble with this polish mostly because I flooded my cuticles with the stain-worthy red polish, but normally I would carefully swipe around my cuticles with a tiny brush filled with acetone polish remover.
Loving that large hexagon glitter on my ring finger!
Oops, forgot to mention I didn't stamp the ring finger. Instead, I added one coat of Frost Yourself for some fireworks-inspired sparkles!
I tried to capture the crazy sparkly-ness of these polishes in direct sun, but my camera just wasn't having it. All the photos that showed the true colors came out blurry.
Red Carpet is definitely a deeper ruby red, NOT so fire engine red as it looks here. It would look amazing on any skin type, but is also one of the only types of red that look good on my fair skin. Be warned however, that this red polish stains the skin like crazy. You don't want to flood the cuticles or sides like I did! It's a mess to try to clean up!
Hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial and festive manicure -
Happy Independence Day!
P.S. Although this red polish was a pain to clean up, it wore like a champ! I enjoyed this mani so much I wore it almost a whole week with hardly any wear on the tips. Nice!
Red Carpet is definitely a deeper ruby red, NOT so fire engine red as it looks here. It would look amazing on any skin type, but is also one of the only types of red that look good on my fair skin. Be warned however, that this red polish stains the skin like crazy. You don't want to flood the cuticles or sides like I did! It's a mess to try to clean up!
Hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial and festive manicure -
Happy Independence Day!
P.S. Although this red polish was a pain to clean up, it wore like a champ! I enjoyed this mani so much I wore it almost a whole week with hardly any wear on the tips. Nice!